1992Z28

I have all the 4th gen stuff in my car (and working I might add...even a 99 cluster WITHOUT a Dakota Digital box) except the door panels. I'm not sure how anyone else got these to work right. The 4th gen panels are an inch shorter than the 3rd gen and it leaves a nasty gap at the bottom. Also, the 4th gen doors have a mounting area for speakers, while the 3rd gens do not. I don't want mine to rattle and was trying to find someone who has done this and got it to work right. I already cut one to try and fit it. I chose to cut the front and move it forward about an inch instead of leaving a big hole in the back of the door panel that you can see when you open the door. I got the door to close, but of course, it rubs against the 3rd gen seat belt thing on the floor. I noticed that even Fatal88 has red showing in the corner's of his door's and he seems to be the master around here for this type of stuff. Any ideas would be helpful.

Added note:

Although they look the same, I don't think that 93-97 TA heater controls are the same as 98-02. The vacuum lines are different in the 98-02.

FLYNLOW92rs

iTrader: (53)

Did you get the HVAC to work?

1992Z28

Yeah. It took a little work, but I merged the 3rd gen HVAC system with the 4th gen and it works fine. I haven't connected the HOT/COLD cable permanently, but I have rigged it up and got it to work. The permanent method WILL work though.

deadbird

Not to hijack your post but, I'm rather curious about the 4thgen selector/vacuum diverter working the vents properly. Since our cars only have a 1 way pull valve for the def./floor, how did you get the 'blend' mode to work ? I have the hvac controls from a corsica (similar to 4thgen but smaller panel) I'm putting in my car but, the vac. diverter routes vac. alot more different than a 3rdgen, essentially I have to make a new rubber diverter diaphragm to make the vents work right. The hot/cold selector is from a 4thgen and works fine using a s-10's cable.
If somehow the selector magically 'just works' on our cars, that would save me alot of tedious work.

Also, I think Fatal's doorpanels are actually custom made but using parts from a 4thgen panel (IIRC reading it in one of his posts)

1992Z28

The HVAC controls are the easiest part. I used a '95 Trans Am HVAC in my '92 and we used a '98 Camaro HVAC in my friends car. Our cars have the main vacuum pull split using a Y. The colors pretty much match up on the vacuum lines and everything works correctly. We just did a search for the vacuum diagrams for all three styles (3rd gen, LT1, and LS1) and used fittings from the auto parts store to connect the proper colors. It was pretty simple. The only part I merged was the vent system behind the dash. I cut the "arms" off of the 4th gen and joined them with the big black center part on the 3rd gen. Mine was a little more complicated and I haven't quite perfected the center 3 vents yet, but the '98 Camaro dash swap we did blows a lot harder that it did with the old dash. The problem was that the T/A dash slants down and the Camaro goes straight out. I just threw mine in there since it was the last part I was doing and I was ready to head home. The side vents work perfectly. Anyway, essentially all you have to do is get the 4th gen HVAC AND the diverter/vacuum hoses (at least a foot). Then you just splice the vacuum hoses together and there you have it. If you have any more questions, let me know.

deadbird

I certainly appreciate that info. I know of the 'y', it supplies vac to the heater control valve as well as the controls. If possible, would there be a way to get a copy (or a link to) of the 4thgen vac. diagrams from you ?

FLYNLOW92rs

iTrader: (53)

Do you by chance have any pictures of the back of the HVAC controls.....?

tpiroc

1992Z28, I'm boggled that everyone who has done this swap struggles with the tach and is forced to correct it with a Dakota box to correct it. Also, the HVAC conversion has been dubbed "not possible" within reason by a defeated many, but "The HVAC controls are the easiest part" you say? I'm just puzzled. Do you have any pictures of any part of this, or the finished product?

1992Z28

I'll see what I can do about pics. Until then, let me elaborate. I should've (and was planning to) written a tech article on this. Here's our "secrets". I hope they help someone on this board. Almost every piece of info we used to do this swap, we got off of this website. I'll have to search for the exact posts and diagrams, but it all came from here. First, and probably most important, I would like to give credit where credit is due. I started off with a 1995 T/A dash and cluster. The '93 and up T/A cluster has 34 pins (LS1 style plug) the '93-'96/'97 Camaro only has 32 pins(LT1 style plug). BUT, the '93-'96/'97 T/A cluster did NOT have the digital odometer (set up for the LT1). I had everything except the speedometer functioning using the '95 T/A cluster. I really don't like the red lights on the Pontiac stuff, so I got the urge to find a LS1 Camaro cluster (digital odometer). I was gonna buy one from a local Camaro/Firebird place here in Dallas, but when I hooked it up, the fuel gauge didn't work (of course) so I didn't trade. Well, my friend, who has a 1991 5.7 TPI Z28, decided he was gonna do this swap after mine went pretty well, but he was gonna be different and go with the Camaro set up. So he went to the junk yard to get his dash. This is the cool part. All they had was a 1998 V6 dash, but it was complete with wiring and all. He bought it and took it home. He had already ripped out his '91 dash and got everything ready for the '98 dash a couple days before. Well he started thinking "the V6 Camaro's still use T-5's and they worked on our cars". Sure enough, he hooked the '98 V6 cluster up and EVERYTHING WORKED. The speedo is correct, the tach is a little off, but the needle moves, AND THE GAS GAUGE WORKS. We had to alter the wiring we got from the Internet for the odometer to light up right. Instead of 2 constant power feeds and 1 accessory, we had to switch one of the constant power feeds to an accessory. This was because when we turned the car off, the digital odometer backlighting would stay on and drain the battery. The ONLY problem this caused was that the tripometer resets everytime you turn the car off. The ODOMETER however, keeps the mileage just fine. There is a low oil light that stays on, even though the oil pressure is correct. I know this sounds like a lot of things wrong, but we haven't even tried to figure it out yet. Once we do, I'm sure we can get everything to function properly. Anyway, back to the plans. The speedo only goes to 120MPH and the oil pressure marks are 60/120 instead of 30/60. Also, as I said before the tach is off a little due to the fact it is functioning V6 style. There is a company that will recalibrate any cluster for you for a decent price (I'll have to find it and post it here). So what I am gonna do is send it in and have the tach corrected for LS1 motor and get the speedo calibrated to 150MPH. I am told this can also be done with a chip and some chip burning software. Anyway, I found some reverse indiglo gauges for an LS1 for $27.95. I'll get the cluster calibrated, slap these reverse indiglo gauges on, and it will be the exact same as an LS1 cluster, with the exception of the fuel gauge will actually work. See, the Dakota Digital box will correct the speedo and tach issue, but some people say you have to buy 2 to get both to work and then you are still left without a fuel gauge. Those boxes are like $75. If I can get the cluster calibrated for $50 and get the reverse indiglo overlays for $27.95, then it will only cost about $75 to have LS1 reverse indiglo gauges WITH working fuel gauge. I hope this helps on that topic. Thanks to Geoff for that discovery.

Anyway, the HVAC was an even easier discovery. The wiring to the actual 4th gen controls has 2 main plugs to worry about. One of the plugs is the EXACT same as the one on our cars. The other has to be cut and spliced, but you only have to use the green, green w/black stripe, and black on that plug. We used a test light to see which one sent the signal to the A/C to turn it on and off. This is what one of those wires is for. The other 2 are the power and ground for the blower motor. As for the vacuum lines, the colors matched up the same on all but 2. Look at the picture posted here of our vacuum lines:
3rd Gen Vacuum lines
It appears there are 6 lines and the 4th gen only has 5. BUT, our main pull is split into 2. If you cut our lines before the "Y", you will be left with 5. I can't remember exactly, but 3 of the colors are the exact same on the 4th gen and I think the others are close. I think grey on 3rd gen connects to green on 4th gen and blue on 3rd gen connects to black on 4th gen and the other 3 are the exact same. THE CONTROLS WORK IN BOTH OF OUR CARS. Mine was an HVAC out of a '95 T/A (LT1) and his was and HVAC out of a '98 Camaro (LS1 style). The only thing that was difficult at first was the HOT/COLD selector. But there is another post around here that shows you how to resolve this too. I will find it and post it if you guys need it. The HVAC conversion took us a total of maybe 15-20 minutes. All the settings blew out the correct place. We used the 4th gen diverter fitting (obviously) and spliced it to the 3rd gen with 5/8 (I think) vacuum hose. We wrapped it in duct tape to ensure that it didn't leak (although it worked fine before we taped it). That's about it. It's as simple as learning to color in Kindergarten. If anyone has any other questions, let me know.

FlamedROC

good info man!!!!:hail:

JeremyNYR

iTrader: (2)

One comment/correction for the original post: Fatal88 custom made his door panels. He did incorporate sections of a 4th gen panel, but the panel itself was custom made rather than modifying the 4th gen panel itself